WHAT IS WTFCON23?
WTFCon23 is the National Women’s Theatre Festival’s annual educational conference, part of the 2023 Festival. WTFCon23 is a place for our community to connect and learn from and with each other; to advocate for our needs and the needs we see around us; to deeply, intentionally, and thoughtfully explore our work; and to surround ourselves with others who champion gender parity and equity in our field. More than a conference, our goal is for WTFCon23 to be a revitalizing self-enrichment experience for theatre artists and academics: an experience that involves humanity, belonging, and a shared sense of purpose, with opportunities to instigate and incubate.
2023 CONFERENCE THEMEOur theme for 2023 is Opening Doors. What does it mean to open a door? Recently we find ourselves opening our doors out onto a world that seems to have exited pandemic stasis, whether we’re ready or not. Metaphorically, we open doors all the time - into a new gig, career, role or phase in our lives. Often, underrepresented-gender people find ourselves opening these metaphorical doors into places where we haven’t been or been expected before. How do we make sure to leave them open behind us so someone else like us can get through, too? To open a door for someone else can be an act of kindness, or a paternalistic act denoting you don’t believe them capable of opening it for themselves. In all its panoply of meanings, our theme this year considers and acknowledges liminality, transition, change, and that feeling of being poised on the brink of something but not quite having stepped into it yet - and all the excitement, anticipation, trepidation and hope this can bring.
